Insurance Australia Group to sell its Asia businesses in ‘retreat’: report

Insurance Australia Group, the Sydney-based, Australian Securities Exchange-listed multi-national insurer, is preparing to sell its four Southeast Asian businesses, following a review of its operation, according to the Reuters news agency, which cited as its source “three people with knowledge of the matter”.

The report couldn’t immediately be verified, and IAG has not yet announced such a sale. In its report, Reuters quoted a company spokeswoman as saying that the company had announced plans to review its Asia strategy, not to exit the region, and declining to comment as to whether the decision had been made to exit the four markets in question.

According to Reuters, the deals, said to involve the company’s ventures in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, could be valued at around $500m, and could be completed by the third quarter of this year.

IAG, Australia’s biggest general insurer by market share, has found other markets in Southeast Asia “a challenge” Reuters noted, citing an underwriting loss in the market of A$6m ($4.63m) in its fiscal first half of 2018, down from an A$9m loss in the second half of 2017.